YMMV / Dagashi Kashi

• Adorkable: Saya, Hotaru and later Hajime are both delightfully awkward in their own ways.
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: The gigantic sakurabou eaten by Hotaru in Episode 4 does exist in reality, as shown (and absolutely devoured) by the cast here. If anything it's even bigger than its anime counterpart.
• Awesome Music: The anime's first opening theme "Checkmate" is very catchy.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: Hotaru's very beautiful design and numerous sexually suggestive moments certainly pushed the series popularity in some circles.
• Broken Base:
  • Expect many discussions about this series to be about whether Hotaru or Saya is best girl.
  • The change in art style and episode length between the first and second seasons^* accompanied with a switch in animation studios from feel. to Tezuka Production is also rather contested among the fans. On one hand, the second season has somewhat closer designs to the manga and the shorter runtime means improved pacing with less drawn-out or filler moments, which many feel addressed some complaints about the first season and suits the source material better. On the other hand, many feel the art got downgraded (Hotaru's eyes, for instance, are less detailed) and that the shorter runtime is detrimental to the plot which has surprisingly more stuff happening than season 1.
• Cargo Ship: Some fans seem to want to ship Hotaru more with the dagashi featured throughout the show over Kokonotsu himself, a fact that's supported by Hotaru showing more interest over candy than any other person so far. That is, at least, until the the last few manga volumes.
• Crack Ship: Kokonotsu's father Yo and Hajime, because she's a (young) adult unlike the main trio, Kokonotsu's Missing Mom is nowhere to be found, and she's living under the same roof.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Saya despite being secondary to Hotaru and Kokonotsu is just as popular as Hotaru and more popular than every other character.
  • Kokonotsu's father Yo started getting a lot of attention after the reveal that he stays up at night making videos for a YouTube channel about dagashi.
  • Hajime swiftly made up for Hotaru's absence upon her introduction for many fans.
• Fan-Preferred Couple:
  • Hotaru x Saya has actually started gaining a lot of traction as both of them are very friendly towards one another with Hotaru often referring to Saya as Saya-shi, "Mistress Saya" (Although ironically, she began to call her so after trying to get the heart of Kokonotsu). Only after a few episodes several fanarts of Saya and Hotaru in romantic context began emerging on the internet.
  • Kokonotsu/Hajime gained traction with the manga's fans, thanks to her interesting interactions with Kokonotsu, being older than most of the cast, and her looks combining the most attractive features of Hotaru and Saya.
• Funny Moments: The English Dub version of the reenactment of the history of ramune, depicting an English Trader and a Japanese Trader making a deal over lemonade; both of them speaking in Funny Accents, the Japanese man speaking in a stereotypical Japanese accent (which is necessary to explain where "ramune" got its name) and the Englishman is speaking in a yacht club rich man accent and his speech is pepper with Valley Girl slang.
• Hype Backlash: Was one of the most anticipated anime of the Winter 2016 season. Needless to say, a few viewers were let down when they realized that this would be a simplistic slice of life comedy that followed a very formulaic format in each episode.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • Most people who picked this up as a seasonal anime admitted they only watched the show just to see what the deal with Hotaru was in this key visual for the anime◊.
  • There are some people watching the show who admit the only reason they're watching it is either for Hotaru or Saya's quirky characters.
  • And then there are some who read just because they like learning about Japanese snacks.
• Les Yay: Saya and Hotaru tend to act very friendly toward each other, with Saya sometimes even being rather clingy. In any case, Saya doesn't object when she thinks Hotaru is coming on to her in episode 12 of season 1.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • A lot of fans will often make jokes in regards to the exotic eyes of the characters.
  • Hotaru wanting to...suck on it.^note In one scene from season 1, Koronotsu is stunned when Hotaru casually (and seductively) discusses wanting to pass time waiting at a train station by sucking on "it", which leads to him wondering just what she wants to suck on and whether or not it can be done in public..... She's talking about kombu hamakaze.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat:
  • Going along with the Broken Base above, you either ship Kokonotsu with Hotaru or Saya.
  • Though, as stated above, the Fan-Preferred Couple of Hotaru/Saya seems to be the third option taken.
  • Another potential Take a Third Option could be an OT3 shipping Hotaru and Saya with both each other and with Kokonotsu.
• Signature Scene: The flashback in episode 6 where a young Saya desperately attempted to play doctor with Kokonatsu who consistently failed to examine her in any meaningful way.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: The second season, despite (or as stated above, because) of the shorter runtime, has a tighter, more dynamic and less formulaic story than the relaxed first season. Hotaru is Put on a Bus for a chunk of episodes, giving more space for the other characters to interact with each other. New characters and developments also shake up the status quo a bit (a modern convenience store opens right across the antiquated dagashi shop with the manager who is Hotaru's brother eyeing Kokonotsu to work for him, and Kokonotsu takes in college dropout Hajime as a live-in employee after Yo is hospitalized).
• Unconventional Learning Experience: Even those who may never get to eat dagashi may find it fun to learn about them through the series.
• Vanilla Protagonist: Considering how colorful characters Hotaru and Saya are, it's very easy to forget that Kokonotsu is the actual protagonist of the series. Unlike Hotaru and Saya who have very colorful personalities and desirable character designs, Kokonotsu's personality is very ordinary with his design not standing out much from other anime protagonists.